It’s all penguins and pleasure and perfection at Tintswalo Boulders
Sitting on your private balcony with a glass of something celebratory, watching the penguins waddle around Cape Town’s iconic Boulders Beach … life is sweet.
Tintswalo Boulders was voted one of the Best 100 Hotels in the World and listed amongst the Top 10 Hotels in Africa by Fodor’s Travel for 2025. So a jolly good choice for a honeymoon, a romantic hideaway, or a weekend in Simons Town.
You’ve a choice of nine luxurious suites – eight with sea views, some with a balcony or a fireplace, some suited to families, all individually but sensationally decorated … think shades of deep-sea blues and softest aquas and calming sand. The comfort level is off the charts, the names of the suites pay homage to historical ships – the Mayflower suite, the Mary Rose, the Cutty Sark. Fabulous little touches throughout.
You can spend the day at the heated pool, book a spa treatment, or stroll down to the beach, with its world-famous resident colony of critically endangered African penguins … major highlight! Back at the hotel, there’s a central courtyard with a fire pit where you can gather for sunset canapés and cocktails, before a relaxed dinner.
There’s a special on from now until 31 August … the rate from R4400 per room per night includes accommodation, breakfast, a three course dinner and sunset canapés.
And you can, if you wish, book the villa on an exclusive-use basis for families and friends travelling together.
Details: tintswalo.com/boulders, res1@tintswalo.com,
follow on Facebook @TintswaloBoulders and
Instagram @tintswalo__boulders
Preening, primping and the ultimate in pampering at The Turbine Spa
Imagine booking a getaway purely to spoil yourself for a day, a weekend, heck – a long-weekend, with full-on pampering. Massages and facials. Exfoliation wraps and steaming sessions and scrubs. Imagine kicking off the spoil with a couples steamy Arabian bathing ritual in an exotically mosaic-tiled Rasul Steam Room. Book us in now!
There are spas. And there are spas. And then there’s the Turbine Spa – the only one in the country housed in the heart of an old defunct power station.
While the unusual Turbine Hotel on Thesen Island in Knysna is all massive turbines, steel pillars, bare brick walls and vividly hued pipes, inside the spa it’s all soft and calm and relaxing.
It’s no wonder it has, for a number of years, been a finalist in the Les Nouvelles Esthetiques Spa Awards (a prestigious annual event that recognises spas that deliver outstanding service, innovative treatments and unique experiences). It’s certainly one of the finest on the Garden Route, with a massive range of pampering options. Besides the Rasul Steam Room bathing ritual, there’s the wonderful Couple’s Connect, the signature Knysna Journey treatment – an hour-and-a-half of relaxing foot scrub, massage and a full body massage, and, from the Turbine Body Collection, a fabulous full body exfoliation wrap with a relaxing scalp massage followed by a nourishing body butter application.
There’s obvs more to do than just be pampered. (But why!).
Knysna is one of the most popular tourist towns on the Garden Route for a reason … there are waterways to explore, restaurants to visit, oysters to be slurped, and exclusive boutiques every which way you look.
The five star boutique hotel has modern luxury accommodation, including a honeymoon suite and two self-contained suites adjacent to the hotel, and two lovely restaurants – the Island Café overlooking the canal with tables tucked between the original turbines, and Gastro Pub – all craft beers and imaginative pub-style dishes. All sorts of unusual instruments and contraptions are dotted around the hotel which will keep engineers, scientists and curious visitors fascinated for hours.
Rates are from R2560 per person per night, but there are always specials to watch out for … like two-night package deals which include a 60-minute massage and dinner for two.
Details: turbinehotel.co.za,
reservations@turbinehotel.co.za, follow on
Instagram @turbinehotel
